Originally touted by Pinellas County Commissioner Janet
Long, Latvala signed on and offered Senate Bill 1672.

Senator Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg along with Senator
Lee put forth an amendment stripping the requiring the authority to get
legislative approval before spending any money of light rail or spending money
advocating for light rail in a voter referendum.

The ease with which this effort stopped the whole
regional transit authority effort should tell the voters just exactly where
this effort was headed.

The thinly veiled attempt to circumvent to will of the
voters was obvious from the very start.

What this political circus does clearly point out is
the real problem with transportation reform in the Bay Aare - It's the
Politicians.

This effort should have been killed before it every got
off the ground. Janet Long's complete disdain for the voters and their will as
it applies to transportation was clearly on display.

"Voters of
Hillsborough County and Pinellas County have rejected these in the past,"
Brandes said. "My goal is that this doesn't become an opportunity for
Greenlight Pinellas 2.0," referring to the latest rejection of a transit
plan by county voters."

I for one am not sure what Long and Latvala didn't get
about the how people feel about light rail.

For now, Long and Latvala will slink off to lick their
wounds, but rest assured the battle is not over.

TBARTA is a blight on the public transpiration effort
in the Bay area, and until it goes completely away and all of its political tentacles
to light rail, politics and politicians are severed it will be all but
impossible for a coherent public transportation policy to emerge.

If nothing else, Long, Latvala and their big dollar
transit fiends are a tenacious lot. Look for yet another new and improved TBARTA to rise
from the ashes of this disaster.